The union representing public high school teachers in Ontario says it will hold another one-day strike on Wednesday, impacting a number of regions, including Durham and Hamilton.
The Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation (OSSTF) says high school teachers at a number of school boards in the province, including the Durham District School Board, the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board, and the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School, will walk off the job on Wednesday for another one-day strike.
The union, which represents 60,000 teachers and education workers, has been holding weekly one-day rotating strikes since the beginning of December.
“The Minister of Education continues to peddle the false narrative that this dispute is about compensation,” union president Harvey Bischof said in a news release issued Friday.
“And yet, when we offered to call off our most recent job action in exchange for class size and staffing guarantees—issues entirely unrelated to compensation—the Ford government chose to reject that offer rather than keep students in classrooms.”
Bischof said the offer is still on the table.
“If the government agrees to return to, and maintain, the class size ratios and staffing levels that were in place just a year ago, we will call off our January 15 job action, and continue to bargain in good faith to resolve the many other outstanding issues,” Bischof said.
In a statement, Education Minister Stephen Lecce said the strikes are unfair to students and their families.
“For the fifth time, OSSTF union leaders have directed their members to not show up to class. These union leaders will forcefully advocate for the interests of their members - from higher wages to enhanced entitlements - however they ought not oppose the academic aspirations of our students," said Lecce.
The tension between the province and Ontario’s major teachers’ unions has been ongoing for the past few months as contract talks appear to have stagnated.
On Thursday, the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) announced that it would launch rotating strikes beginning on Jan. 20 if key issues aren’t addressed at the bargaining table soon.
The unions have repeatedly indicated that class sizes and the government’s decision to freeze wage increases below the rate of inflation are major sticking points in negotiations.
School boards impacted by Jan. 15 strike:
- Keewatin-Patricia District School Board
- District School Board Ontario North East
- Moose Factory Island District Area School Board
- James Bay Lowlands Secondary School Board
- Rainbow District School Board
- Bluewater District School Board
- Upper Grand District School Board
- Wellington Catholic District School Board
- Durham District School Board
- Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board
- Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board
- Ottawa-Carleton District School Board
- Upper Canada District School Board
- Conseil scolaire de district catholique des Grandes Rivières
- Conseil scolaire de district catholique de l’Est ontarien
- Provincial Schools Authority
